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Military Night: Capitals vs Sabres live analysis and updates (March 15, 2023)

By Ian Oland

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March 15, 2023 6:43 pm

This is your place to check for updates and comment along with the Washington Capitals vs. Buffalo Sabres game on March 15, 2023.

The Washington Capitals are back in action against the Buffalo Sabres tonight and it’s another “big” game. The Caps will practically have to win out the rest of their schedule to have a chance of getting into the playoffs for a ninth straight season.

The Capitals will be without Sonny Milano, who is still sick with the flu. Alex Ovechkin took warmups and will be back in the lineup.

Tonight’s game is on NBC Sports Washington and puck drop will be a little after 7 pm. The Capitals are wearing their W jerseys.

It’s Military Night at Capital One Arena.

Lines

Joe Snively and Gabriel Carlsson will be the healthy scratches.

Pregame shenanigans

1st Period

Protas-Dowd-NAK and Fehervary-Jensen get the start. Charlie Lindgren will oppose Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net tonight.

🚨 1-0 Sabres. Ilya Lyubushkin gets the Sabres on the board first, 4:43 into the first.

🚨 2-0 Sabres. JJ Peterka scores on a 2-on-1. TVR played it mostly perfect and even got his stick on the pass across. But it wasn’t enough to break up the play. The goal came 8:50 into the period.

The Capitals are not playing inspired hockey.

NAK draws a penalty after getting hit up high trying to chip the puck to himself.

🚨 2-1 Sabres. Ovechkin did a fake one-timer pass to Dylan Strome in front of the net. The redirect hit the post, but Oshie got his stick on it to push it over the goal line. The goal came at 10:03 of the period.

🚨 3-1 Sabres. Tyson Jost scores on a broken play 18:06 into the period. Conor Sheary believed a penalty should have been called for interference as the Sabres entered the zone.

Rasmus Sandin and TVR were on the ice for all three of the Sabres’ first-period goals.

The Capitals are out-shooting the Sabres 9-6 and out-attempted them 19-14 at 5v5. The Capitals hold the expected goals edge, 1.24 to 0.63. The Capitals are also out-hitting the Sabres 14-1.

2nd Period

TJ Oshie down the tunnel. Looks like he’s injured.

Oshie’s back several minutes later.

Rasmus Sandin takes a shot off the side of the left knee and is laying on the ice in a ton of pain. TJ Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom skated him off the ice.

3rd Period

🚨 3-2 Sabres. Evgeny Kuznetsov scores early in the period. Alex Alexeyev gets the primary assist. The Capitals are trying to rally.

🚨 4-2 Sabres. Zemgus Girgensons scores. Peyton Krebs with the assist.

Sandin and TVR have been on the ice for all four Sabres goals.

🚨 4-3 Sabres. Alex Ovechkin scores his 817th career goal.

🚨 4-4 tie. Nicklas Backstrom, from behind the goal line, finds Tom Wilson in the slot for a chip-in. The Capitals had a power play and their goalie pulled.

Overtime

The Capitals start Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, and Rasmus Sandin.

Dylan Cousins trips TJ Oshie late in overtime, giving the Capitals a four-on-three power play for 56.5 seconds.

Ovi has three consecutive one-timer attempts, but can’t score.

Shootout

✅ Evgeny Kuznetsov scores with the super-slow move. Per Locker, it took 10.1 seconds and he used 21 stickhandles.
❌ Alex Tuch tries to dangle to his forehand, but Charlie Lindgren makes the save.
✅ TJ Oshie goes backhand forehand and fakes UPL out of the net. He was previous 0 for 2 this season.
❌ Tage Thompson gets pokechecked by Charlie Lindgren

Capitals get the extra standings point to move ahead of the Sabres in the Eastern Conference (playoff?) race.

Comment below. Refresh this article throughout the night as we’ll be updating it live.

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